Disney introduces variable pricing based mostly on seasonal demand

janfrederick said:

My point is that we ended up getting passes because we had multi=day passes and were looking down the barrel of a "let's get as much in as possible because this is so expensive" 3 days at the park. For a bit more, we could relax.

Precisely the reason my wife and I have been AP holders for a few years now.

If we did the math, I'm not really sure where the break/even was/is. But probable close to even.

The overwhelming value we continue to receive with AP is the fact that we can come and go into a park as we please. We can shoot into Epcot for dinner if we want, or hit the MK for a few hours without a worry of "burning" a day of admission.

Until we did AP's, I never appreciated the value of unlimited visits, even if it is to shoot into Epcot for an hour to catch Illuminations on our arrival night.

Yes. Coming and going as you please is such a wonderful thing. Sometimes we'll linger in Magic Kingdom, and sometimes we'll hit Haunted Mansion, Pirates, Dole Whip and we're done.

Daily Kos (yeah, I know) has an interesting article that claims the locals will end up subsidizing visits by out-of-towners...some sense in there, IMO.

Murfster35 said:

Orlando and L.A. residents take a week of [sic] in the summer and go elsewhere on vacation. The pilgrimage to Disneyland or Disney World is a weekend event, when parents don't have to take a day off while the kids are on vacation.

For me, this is where he goes astray. A large chunk of Annual Pass holders are very local, and visit the parks for an hour or two whenever they like. A visit is not a weekend event, it's a "hey, let's have dinner at Yak and Yeti" outing.

Even with his "good coin" and discounts, Disney trips were every 4-6 years trips. For some, a Disney trip is a once in a lifetime trip, for some, a Disney trip is a given annual event, and for a very small number of some, a Disney trip is "Dear, I've the weekend off for Christmas. Could you kindly ring Grand Floridian and see if they've rooms available?"

With the mountains of data the "number crunchers and bean counters" were sifting through, I'm certain they saw little risk of alienating significant parts of their customers.

I agree with that. I also wouldn't expect the local day-trippers to be big spenders inside the parks.

Yeah. My assumption of season pass or Annual Pass or whatever you call your passes guests is that they don't spend a lot of money in the parks on each visit.

Well you can't argue with someone who goes by "Murfster35." Seriously, the resident renewal rate last year was just under $500 a person, so my family of three paid a little under $1,500 for our passes. Sure, we'll spend a bit during Food & Wine, and get fried food and copious amounts of Dolewhip, but the idea that I'm spending more than a tourist is absurd. My wife and I, sans child, routinely spent that much on our five-day trips, and usually more.

Hanging n' Banging said:
Until we did AP's, I never appreciated the value of unlimited visits, even if it is to shoot into Epcot for an hour to catch Illuminations on our arrival night.

Just about anywhere we go, Disney or not, I tend to buy whatever will allow me the freedom to come and go without restrictions. For example, if I'm spending a week in the Smoky Mountains, I buy an annual pass to Dollywood. I don't do that because I spend the whole week in the park. I do that so we can come and go as we please. I do that even if it works out to be a few dollars more than I would have spent if I could predict exactly what I was going to do, because the flexibility itself has value.

For WDW, usually a multi-day hopper is less expensive than an AP, unless we are coming back within the year.

I don't see dynamic ticket pricing ever having a big effect on guest behavior in Florida. The cost of airfare and lodging already adjusts according to demand, so anyone taking a week long trip during the busy season has already shown that they are willing to pay a premium to visit during that time.

I do think there could be some change in guest behavior in California, although I'm still not convinced it will make a substantial difference in alleviating the overcrowding issue. Some people might even decide to extend their one day visit to two days, resulting in more crowding. (Right now, for a southern California resident, a two day ticket is only $30 more than a peak one day ticket.)